Chatham charade

03/19/2014 04:21PM
● By ACL

By Uncle Irvin

On the initiative of London Grove Supervisors, the attention of the community has turned once again to the Route 41 corridor. Chatham alone should not be the focus of Route 41 improvements, but Route 41 from Gap to Delaware.

The road, as anyone who has traveled it knows, is a bumper-to-bumper mess, with three tractor trailers or trucks to every automobile. Route 41, as now constituted, is also a death and accident trap. Even a state trooper going home after his shift at the Avondale Barracks met an untimely death on Route 41.

Further south, the Borough of Avondale has rumbling truck traffic 24 hours a day that sometimes shake the homes on Route 41. Further south again, the Route 41/Newark Road intersection in New Garden Township is a traffic disaster, one of the worst intersections in southern Chester County.

Route 41 improvements should be regional, not just in a single township like London Grove. When Congressman Joe Pitts was first elected to Congress, he obtained an “earmark” in transportation legislation that gave $6 million to PennDOT for Route 41 improvements. That $6 million is at least $6.5 million with accrued interest, and is still escrowed with PennDOT.

Because of tree-huggers like S.A.V.E. and cowardly legislators like State Rep. Chris Ross, the impetus to run a Route 41 bypass has languished and has yet to be resurrected. Elected officials and state legislators in Route 41 municipalities must take the initiative to make the road safer, not just in one township. And why are they so afraid to spend the $6 million grant?